Police: Teen girl sexually assaulted at West Charlotte HS

A 14-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted at a high school in west Charlotte on Monday.

The alleged incident happened at West Charlotte High School on Senior Drive around 4:30 p.m.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say the accused assailant was not a faculty member of the school. Police say they have identified the accused assailant.

CMPD released this statement Tuesday:

"Detectives with the Crimes Against Children Unit continue to actively investigate this case. This was not a random act of violence – the victim and suspects are known to one another. "

A police source told WBTV that the 14 year old said she was forced to perform oral sex in a bathroom. The police report says there are two suspects, who sources say are students.

Sources say police will probably look at video surveillance cameras on campus to help with the investigation.

A spokesperson for Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools says parents were notified Tuesday, instead of Monday, because the incident occurred late in the afternoon when classes had long been dismissed and "because it was not a random crime, there was no safety risk for all students. The notification to parents this morning was informational."

WBTV obtained a copy of the notice parents received from the school's principal.

"The safety of all students and staff at West Charlotte High School is very important to me. It is equally important that I communicate with parents when situations arise on campus," the notice said. "Last night a report of an alleged sexual assault was made to CMPD by one of our students. As soon as I was notified, I took the necessary steps to cooperate with the ongoing investigation. Information at this time has been limited to preserve the integrity of the investigation and privacy of all students."

"This is the first time I heard somebody sexually assaulted" a student, who is a senior, told WBTV.

She says she first heard about the allegations Monday afternoon.

"I was at practice yesterday and there was this big crowd of kids fighting, just going at it. My friend - she knew her {alleged victim} because she’s actually in our program," the student said. "And they were just saying she happened to get sexually assaulted and that they just brought some people in and they were going to kinda fight whoever did it to her and whole group of kids just started – it just crazy. It was very chaotic."

But students say it was a different scene inside the school building Tuesday during school hours.

"They had us more strict with lock down and security guards escorting us everywhere," another student said.

She says there were escorts "to the bathrooms. If you want to go to the office, you had to have a security guard and on class time when we were transitioning between classes they put a time limit – a strict time limit."

Students say they have questions about the alleged assault.

"I want to know how did it happen in school because we have cameras everywhere so," a student said. "That’s weird – knowing that it can happen in school."